


Slipping Through The Cracks

by GachMoBrea



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: AU, Arrest, Fake "Boys" Home, Fake Police Procedures, Gen, I'm sorry?, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Litte!Iris, Little!Barry - Off Screen, Theft, What If? - In the Past, Younger!Joe, Younger!Len, Younger!Lisa, Younger!Mick, abandonement, bad tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 03:44:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7558831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GachMoBrea/pseuds/GachMoBrea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"- I've always had a lowkey headcanon that back like 20 years ago Joe had picked up a late teen or early 20 year old Len and tried to reform him away from the life of crime because he had known how bad Len's father was since their time working at CCPD had overlapped a little, but he had failed and Len became "the one that slipped through the cracks" -"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slipping Through The Cracks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [badwolfchild](https://archiveofourown.org/users/badwolfchild/gifts).



Joe West was a young, still partially inexperienced detective when he came across a young man named Leonard Snart.  
The kid was barely 20 years old and after the detective had his name run in the computer, he was told Leonard had already been in and out of jail.  
Young Snart kept his expression void of emotions as he looked straight forward in the back of Joe's car. Det. West had picked him up stealing some skates from a sports shop while his partner cleaned out the register. The bigger kid had gotten away but Joe managed to snag Snart.  
'Snart', as in son of 'Lewis Snart'. Joe's heart sank at the name. He had met the man, if you could call him that, before. Before the cop turned criminal, that is. Even then, Joe knew there was something off about the older Snart. A darkness hidden deep in his fake smiles as he ordered another round at the bars after a shift.   
After Snart got out of jail, Joe had gone to the house to return his personal belongings that were left to rot at the station. No one wanted to go near the man's house, but Joe wasn't about to let his fellow law enforcement co-workers just toss the stuff in the trash.  
Even before he reached the front door, Joe had heard shouting. He pounded on the door, worried that there was an intruder, perhaps someone who hated dirty cops coming to play local hero, but then Snart's red and angry face all but threw the door off the hinges as he barked at Joe to tell him why he was there.  
The detective offered up his box lamely, too shocked from the sudden outburst and look of the man before him to know what to say.  
Snart ripped the box out of Joe's hands and ordered him off his property before slamming the door in his face.  
The detective hadn't been back to the house since.

Joe shakes his head of the unpleasant memories. They won't help him with his present problem. He looks at the kid in the back of his car using the rear view mirror.  
"You wanna tell me why you're knocking off a sports store for skates?" he asks.  
"No," Leonard answers simply, expression still blank.  
"Come on, kid," Joe tries to sound friendly. "I already caught you doing it. What can it hurt you to tell me why?"  
"Any information can be used against you," Len turns a dark look to the detective with the mirror. "Even innocent information."  
Joe frowns. Someone so young shouldn't have such a bleak look of the world already. The person in the back of his car should be either in college or trying to find a job while goofing off with his friends in his down time. Not glaring after being caught by the police.

The detective takes Leonard to the station. When he hands the kid over to be processed, something sinks in his gut; like it's his fault the young man was there even though that's ridiculous.

Signing his name on the bottom of his report, Det. Joe West makes a decision.   
He decides to reform Leonard Snart from his life of crime.

\---

"Joe! How are you?" Henry Allen pats his friend on the back as he walks into the dining room.   
"Henry?" Joe blinks at his old friend. "What are you doing here?"  
"I invited them over for dinner," Francine West smiles, entering the room with a hot pan of food. "Iris has been so fussy lately, I needed to have a more mature conversation and I never know how late you're going to work, dear."  
"Children will be children," Nora Allen laughs softly as she follows after the other woman with a bowl of bread. "They're a blessing, but some times..."  
"Noisy," Henry laughs, earning a gentle smack from his wife. The couple have a son of their own around Iris's age and the two little kids were become fast friends.

It's a pleasant dinner filled with laughter and memories of when they were all younger and more free to do what they wanted. Joe catches his wife's eyes looking wistful when she reminisces about being able to travel the world, not a single care on her mind.  
Whenever she gets like that, Joe wonders if his Francine thinks more earnestly about leaving, but he reminds himself about their wedding, their daughter, there life here in Central City and knows that could never happen.  
People who love each other don't just run away.

\---

The next morning, Joe goes to the sports shop owner and pays for the skates so that the man will drop the charges. When Leonard Snart is brought out of his cell to face the detective who got him off he only raises an eyebrow.  
"That's it?" Joe crosses his arms over his chest. "No thank you? Not even a thanks old man?"  
"Gee, thanks old man," Len parrots without enthusiasm. The officer who brought the young crook looks at Joe with a baffled expression.   
"You sure you wanna help this punk out?" the officer asks, frown telling Joe all he needed about what the officer thought the young man deserved.  
"I'm sure," the detective grins. "Thank you, officer."  
Joe takes Leonard by the elbow and escorts him out of the precinct. 

When they make it to the detective's car, Leonard stops in his tracks.  
"If this is the part where you expect me to pull a job for you in a returned favor for getting me out, I'll pass," the young crook doesn't look at Joe, he keeps his eyes pointed forwards like a cadet in military school. Face devoid of expression and tone even.  
"Did your brain already forget that I was the one who brought you here when you tried to pull one of those jobs?" Joe keeps one hand on Leonard's elbow as he opens the door. "Now get your forgetful butt in this car before I change my mind about helping you out."  
Leonard glances at the detective out of the corner of his eye but does as told. Joe rolls his eyes as he gets into the driver's seat.  
"Don't you dare try offering to rob some place for me again, Leonard," Joe tells the kid in his back seat before he turns the key in his ignition. "I don't appreciate the jab to my integrity."  
"The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles," Leonard mumbles with a slight laugh.  
"What was that?" Joe barks, thinking the kid might've said something inappropriate.  
"The definition of integrity," the kid speaks up. "The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles."  
"Yeah, and?" the detective presses.  
Leonard shrugs, "Haven't seen it yet. Was wondering what it looked like."  
Joe blinks, returns his full attention to the road in front of him and realizes he made a really good call with this one. The kid was smart. He had potential.   
Now if only Joe could get him to use it for less nefarious reasons.

Joe can't take Leonard home, so he takes him to a house for troubled teens.  
"I'm no drug addicted teenager," Leonard tells him as he pulls into the parking lot. "Take me home."  
"Home isn't helping," the detective decides, putting the car in park. He gets out and opens the door for his passenger, "Maybe a change of scenery will help change you view on life."  
"Doubt it," Leonard remarks, eyes scanning his surroundings carefully.  
"Come on," Joe guides the kid to the front of the building. "Let's get you set up."

The detective had called ahead while he waited for young Snart's paperwork to be filed. There was a room waiting for the young crook by the time he signed the sign-in sheet at the front of the house.  
Miss Nancy, the head mistress of the facility, smiled at Leonard. "It's good to have a new face about us. Three of our young men recently got jobs out of the city and it's felt terribly empty."  
"You sure they got jobs?" Leonard remarks under his breath.  
Both adults ignore the comment.  
"This way," Miss Nancy leads them to a small room a the end of a hall on the right sight of the building. It's just a single bed and a two-drawer dresser, but it has a window and it's clean.  
"Nice," Joe nods his head in approval. He smiles at the head mistress. "I appreciate you giving him a room to himself."  
"Oh, all of our rooms are single rooms," Miss Nancy replies. "It helps when there's a grounding. It also cut the dealings between the boys-I mean, young men in half."  
Leonard goes to the window and opens it. There are no bars and Joe can imagine the kid thinking about all the ways to escape.  
"There's a curfew," the head mistress continues. "All young men must be in their rooms by nine, but sleep is not a requirement. You can stay up as late as you want. You just have to do it in your room."  
"What about the day time?" Joe asks. "What do the boys-er, young men," he corrects himself when Miss Nancy glares at him. "What do the 'young men' do during the day?"  
"That's up to them," the head mistress shrugs. "Some go to school. Some work around the house. Some go out to try and find a job."  
"You let your prisoners do what they want as long as they're back by bedtime?" Leonard asks, eyes staring blankly at the woman.  
Miss Nancy appears unaffected. She puts her hands on her hips and raises an eyebrow, "Do you see bars on that window, Mr. Snart?"  
Leonard shakes his head minutely.  
"Are there shackles on your wrists or ankles?" Miss Nancy doesn't wait for an answer that time. "Did I say anything about locking you in here?"  
"Are you?" Leonard counters with a question.  
"No," the head mistress deadpans, eyes narrowing on the young man. "This is a sanctuary for those who want to change. It isn't a fancy prison for those who can't."  
That seems to strike a chord in the young crook. Leonard averts his eyes, turns them to the window as he crosses his arms over his chest.  
With a nod, Miss Nancy guides Joe out of the room and back to the front entrance of the building.

"It's the truth, Detective West," the head mistress says sadly as the detective reaches the door. "I can't force him to stay here. If he leaves. He leaves."  
"Then I better work hard on making him stay," Joe smiles, pushing the door open to the bright sunshine outside.

\---

The next day, while Joe is enjoying his lunch at his desk so he can also catch up on some paperwork, Miss Nancy calls to inform him that Leonard snuck out late that night and hasn't returned.  
Joe thanks the apologetic sounding woman and tosses the rest of his food in the trash as he grabs his coat and practically stomps his way to his car.

He drives straight to the Snart household.

A young girl, maybe fourteen or so years old, opens the door. There's a bright red mark on her face and she's favoring her left shoulder but she still tries to smile at the detective when he says, "Hello."  
"Hello," the girl replies, brown curls in a wild mess to her shoulders. "Can I help you?"  
"I'm looking for Leonard," Joe tells her. "Is he around?"  
The forced smile vanishes in an instant and the girl shields half of herself with the open door as she answers, "No."  
"He's not in trouble," the detective quickly assures her. "I'm Detective West of the CCPD. I just wanted to talk to him."  
At the word "Detective" the girl nearly shut the door in Joe's face. With only a crack of the door left to talk through, Joe tries another angle.  
"Are you his sister?" The detective smiles as big as he can without it feeling creepy. "Leonard never told me he had such a lovely young lady as a relative. But, then again, he doesn't talk much, does he?"  
The girl smiles a little as she shakes her head, "Lenny knows when to keep his mouth shut." And just as quickly as it came the small smile vanishes. "I have a hard time learning that lesson."  
Anger pools at the pit of Joe's stomach, but he keeps his voice gentle as he asks, "What's your name, sweetheart?"  
"LISA! What the #/% you doing at the door?" Lewis Snart appears, shoving the young girl away like she was an annoying bug. "Who're you?"  
"Detective West," Joe frowns. "We've met before."  
"Oh, yeah?" Lewis growls, looking the detective over. "I don't recognize you. You one of the guys who put me away?"  
'I didn't have the pleasure,' Joe thinks, but he says, "No. I just brought you your things afterwards. We also went out for beers before your made your mistake."  
"Who're you to judge?" Lewis barks. "Now get off my yard before I kick you off it!"  
Snart slams the door in Joe's face, the force of it shaking the windows. Joe's hands tighten into fists at his sides as he turns and walks to his car.

'Lisa Snart. So there's two of them.' Joe gives the house one more look over before getting into his vehicle and driving off.   
As the house disappears in his rear view mirror, Joe becomes more determined to change things for Leonard. And his sister, Lisa. 

\---

"Joseph!"  
Joe blinks out of his thoughts, looks up to his wife who's frowning at him. Their daughter Iris is crying in her booster chair. Tomato sauce is all over the floor from the little girl's bowl which is upside down.   
"Do I finally have your attention?" Francine snaps. "Iris dropped her food and I can't get to the paper towels without stepping in it!"  
"Sorry, honey," Joe pushes out of his chair and rushes to the kitchen to fetch the disposable towels. He cleans up the mess as quickly and efficiently as he can.   
His wife tries to calm their still crying daughter, saying things like 'It's okay, baby.' and 'Daddy is fixing it.' When she says, "Can't you just stop crying, please?" Joe's stomach twists into a tight knot.  
He tosses the food and soiled paper towels before picking his daughter up out of the chair to rub circles on her back and gently hush her.  
"I'll get you a new plate, baby girl," he soothes his little girl who's now calmed down to sniffling. "Everything's fine. You're okay. It's just food."  
Francine has her head in her hands. One Iris stops sniffling, Joe puts a comforting hand on his wife's shoulder.  
"Francine, I'm-" his wife pushes his hand away and strides out of the room without another word. Joe flinches when their bedroom door slams shut.   
"Sorry," he mumbles to himself, hugging his daughter a little tighter.

\---

Joe rubs his sore neck as he gets into his car. He slept on the couch that night. Francine stayed in the room all night and didn't even come down for breakfast the next morning. The detective had to call up the Allen's to see if they could watch Iris for him, which they readily agreed to without asking any probing questions. Joe was glad for their friendship. He didn't really want to get into his marital problems with them.  
On his way to the station, he catches sight of a familiar escaped crook.  
"Hey!" Joe pulls over next to Leonard Snart. "Get in."  
"I'm not supposed to get into stranger's cars," Leonard remarks, face pointed forwards. The kid didn't even turn to look at the detective.  
"You owe me an explanation, Leonard," Joe throws the car in park and gets out of it. "Would it have killed you to stay at that house one night?"  
Leonard keeps his face pointed forwards so that the detective can only see the right side of his face. His eyes keep looking down the street instead of at Joe.  
"I'm talking to you!" Joe pushes the kid to face him and instantly wishes he hadn't. There's an enormous bruise covering the left half of the kid's face. If Joe remembers his 'bruise age progression' lessons correctly, they're only a few hours old. Long enough ago for the kid to have escaped the house Joe put him in and get a beat down from his father. "Did you dad do that to you?"  
"I fell jumping out the window," Leonard answers, eyes staring through Joe instead of at him. "You gonna arrest me?"  
"I might be able to come up with something," Joe remarks, reaching out to tilt the kid's face to get a better look. Leonard slaps his hand away, turning a glare at him.  
"You don't have to take this kind of crap from your dad, Leonard," Joe tells him. "You can have him arrested for child abuse."  
"I'm not a child," the kid answers. "And I said I fell."  
"What about your sister?" the detective changes tactics. "What about Lisa? I saw her yesterday, Leonard. She didn't look so good."  
"I can take care of her," Leonard's voice dips down into something threatening, protective. It's the most emotion Joe's heard from him so far.  
"But you shouldn't have to," Joe tells him. "I can help you. In another year you could take custody of your sister. All you need to do is get a legal job and prove you can support her."  
"You know I've already been in Juvie. They'll never give her over to me now," Leonard pushes passed the detective to continue walking down the road.   
"They would if you had someone as a character witness who vouched for you," the detective tells him confidently, making the kid stop in his tracks. "You clean up your act? I'll help you and your sister get out of that hole."  
"And why would you do that?" Leonard finally turns his full focus on the detective. Those two icy blue eyes are intense to stare at but Joe doesn't look away. He can't afford to at this crucial point.   
"Maybe I just care too much about the punk kids I run into," Joe shrugs.   
"No one cares about us," Leonard growls. "Our own mother ran away."  
Joe had heard that rumor, had no reason to think it false. It still hurt to hear.  
"I don't have an angle, Leonard," the detective takes a step closer so that he doesn't have to raise his voice on the street. He felt exposed enough with the possibility of someone overhearing them accidentally. "I took an oath to uphold the law. But I also took an oath to do right by those I come into contact with. Human lives are precious, Leonard. They shouldn't be thrown away when they can be saved."  
The kid smirks, but not in mirth or happiness; it's a derisive turn of the lips.  
"You're gonna save us, detective?" Leonard crosses his arms over his chest, tilts his head upwards slightly as he pulls himself to his full height. He's challenging the detective. Trying to see if the older man will back down from his words.  
"I sure as heck won't hold your hand but," Joe grins. "I'm always up for a challenge."  
Leonard narrows his eyes at the detective then turns, "We'll see about that."

Joe gets so caught up in his own head he doesn't realize the kid's gone and escaped again. The detective curses himself, getting back in his car and slamming the door to vent some of his frustrations.

\---

After his shift, Joe picks Iris up from the Allen's, politely denying their offers for dinner leftovers. He pulls into his driveway and takes a breath.  
The house is dark inside. Their bedroom is empty but Francine's clothes are all there. Only his wife's purse is missing, so he guesses she's out shopping or something.   
He takes his daughter upstairs, helps her brush her teeth, gets her into her pajamas and tucks her into her bed.  
"Daddy," little Iris looks up at him with great big watery eyes. "Mommy gone?"  
"No baby," Joe pulls his daughter into a tight hug. "Mommy's just out shopping. She must've forgotten what time it is. That's all. You get some sleep, baby."  
"Kay," Iris smiles nestling down into her covers and closing her eyes. Joe kisses her on her forehead and turns on her nightlight before leaving the room.  
He goes to his room, looks at the pristine look of it...He sighs, rubs at his face then gets ready for bed. Maybe Francine was out with friends again. She had done that after getting frustrated with Joe before.  
The detective tries to call his wife but it goes straight to voice mail. After four more tries, he leaves a message and decides to go to bed.   
'She'll be back in the morning,' he tells himself as the exhaustion pulls him into the darkness of sleep.

\---

Francine is not there in the morning. When Joe carries his daughter downstairs to make them breakfast he frowns at the empty living room and kitchen. He starts to worry for his wife.  
As Iris happily eats her bowl of cereal, the detective starts making calls. He calls all of Francine's friends but they haven't seen her. He calls the Allen's and asks them if they've heard from her but they have no news from his wife either.   
Then Joe starts calling hospitals and uses his detective status to ask them if someone with Francine's description was brought it.   
None of the hospitals have anyone of her description which eases something in Joe's chest, but his mounting worry jumps to take it's place.  
As a last ditch effort the detective calls the precinct to ask if any women were arrested since he last left. There is one woman in a holding cell after being taken in for driving under the influence.  
Joe's heart kicks into overdrive as he thanks the officer who took his call and hurries his daughter to finish eating and get dressed. Once again, he finds himself relying on the Allen's to watch over his daughter but the couple merely smile, bringing his little girl into their house with warm smiles.  
"Is everything all right, Joe?" Henry asks him after Nora has taken the Iris to go play with their son, Barry.   
"Everything's fine," Joe lies with a forced smile. "Thanks again for watching Iris. I'll make it up to you."  
"It's no problem, my friend," the doctor smiles. "Barry enjoys having a playmate."  
Joe waves as he drives away. The second he's out of sight, his smile drops from his face.

 

It's not Francine. She's too young, has the wrong eyes, her hair is buzzed short...  
Joe thanks the officer in booking and goes to his desk. He's running out of places to look. Could his wife be bleeding out in an alley? What if she's been run off the side of the road while Joe was sleeping, safe in their bed?  
The detective shakes his head. Thinking about the worst case scenarios won't help him find his wife.  
A female officer approaches him, "There's someone here to see you."  
"Tell whoever it is to come back later," Joe waves the officer away, sorting through the junk on his desk to make room for a map of the city.  
"He says it's important," the officer hesitates. "But, if you ask me, from the looks of him I doubt it's important."  
"Then why are you bothering me with it?" Joe nearly bites out, but he reins in his anger and forces himself to be as polite as possible. He offers his co-worker a small smile, "Please, I've got a lot on my plate right now."  
"Got it, detective," the female officer smiles kindly at him. "We all have those kind of days."  
She leaves to chase away Joe's visitor as the detective's eyes turn down to focus on the map. If Francine wanted to go somewhere to blow off steam, where would she go?

 

Joe runs down a few addresses, drives slowly passed the walkways near the water, re-checks with friends except for the Allen's, but the whole day passes without a sign of his wife.  
He prints out a picture of Francine and checks with every last bar in Central City.   
Nobody has seen her.   
Joe then checks the bus stations and finally gets a break.  
"Yeah, she was here," the ticket man answers as he locks up. The final bus had left just as the detective arrived. "She bought about a dozen tickets though. Couldn't tell you which one she actually used."  
"Do you have any security cameras?" Joe asks, eyes already searching for said device.  
"Nah, can't afford them yet," the man shakes his head. "If you ask me, management cares more about raises than security."  
Joe thanks the man and returns to his vehicle. He closes his eyes as he leans back in his seat.  
Francine is gone. She just up and left him. No note. No reason.  
She just left.  
"Why?" Joe chokes on the word, hands covering his face as he breaks down inside his car in the parking lot of the bus station.

\---

Henry and Nora Allen don't ask any questions when Joe shows up at their house the next morning. The detective has dark circles under his eyes and smells heavily of alcohol.  
Dr. Allen takes the man by the shoulders and drives him back home. He helps the detective get to his bedroom and orders him to shower and change, then goes to the kitchen to make his friend a strong cup of coffee.  
Clean and with fresh clothes on, Joe looks a touch better. Once he gets the caffeine in his system some of the darkness clouding his eyes clears and he finally looks to the man standing across the counter from him patiently waiting for him to speak .  
"She's gone," Joe says simply, hoping the man staring at him will understand. It was a struggle to get that much out without breaking down again.  
Henry sighs sympathetically, he moves and take the chair next to his friend but he doesn't touch him. Doesn't crowd him. The doctor waits.  
Joe swallows the lump in his throat. Tears well up in his eyes as he forces himself to whisper, "I don't know what I did wrong."  
"You and I have been friends for a long time, Joe," Henry starts seriously. "I'd like to think I know the type of person you are." He looks at his friend, "I know you didn't hit her, Joe. That much is obvious for anyone to see. Were the two of you arguing?"  
Unable to speak again yet, the detective shakes his head.  
"Then it's not a matter of you doing something wrong, Joe," Henry tells him slowly, carefully. "Francine decided to give up on this marriage without so much as talking to you about it."  
The words hurt so much, the detective flinches when he hears them.  
"She's the one who did wrong, Joe," Henry continues sadly. "She gave up without a fight."  
Joe can't accept that. Maybe she 'had' fought. Maybe the 'great detective' hadn't noticed the signs or just plain ignored them. His memory re-plays the wistful look in his wife's eyes not so many nights ago. Nausea churns his stomach as his own encouraging thoughts of 'that could never happen'.  
It had happened. Even as Joe's heart felt like it was shattering inside his chest, he realized: People who love each other can just run away.  
And Francine West just did.

\---

A hit-and-run case catches most of Joe's attention for the next few days, but he makes it a point to spend as much time with his daughter as he can.  
Every day Iris asks when her mother will come home and every day Joe has to come up with a new lie for his little girl to believe.  
The Allen's are an indescribable help to Joe, a fact which he tells them whenever he can.  
"I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you enough," he tells them one night after dinner. Barry and Iris are putting a puzzle together in the living room contently and the detective refuses to imagine a world without his daughter in it.  
"I'm sure something will come up," Henry chuckles. "Who knows? Maybe when the kids get a little older, Nora and I will want to go away for a while and you can take care of Barry for us."  
"It would be my honor," Joe smiles back at his friend. "Barry is a great kid."  
"So is Iris," Nora replies, gently placing her hand on the detective's. "You're a good father, Joe."  
"Let's just hope I'm good enough," Joe rubs the woman's hand gratefully, then looks back to the two in the living room. "For both our sakes."

\---

Joe's on his way home from work when he hears over the police scanner of a 459S and possible 10851: silent bugler alarm and stolen vehicle. He decides to help his brothers in arms and goes to the address.  
The jewelry store is dark as Joe parks his car in the front. A noise from the back alley has the detective drawing his weapon as he runs to investigate.  
"Mick! You set off the alarm," a familiar male voice hisses with the sound of a vehicle door opening.  
"How do you know that?" another male voice growls back.  
"Because there's a bright red light blinking!" the familiar voice bites back.  
"Lenny," another familiar voice, this time female, calls out. "I thought we were gonna leave town?"  
"We are," Leonard Snart smirks confidently at his sister as Joe rounds the corner of the building. "Just had to pick up something for the road."  
"Most people get snacks," Joe plants his feet firmly on the ground, gun pointed towards the trio. Lisa Snart is in the back of a station wagon, most likely the stolen vehicle, and the kid Joe had seen the first day he met Leonard is standing with one foot inside the getaway vehicle. Young Snart is holding a bag in one hand, no doubt filled with stolen goods, and the other is on the handle of the station wagon.  
"It's that copper who came to our house, Lenny," Lisa's eyes widen in realization. "We're gonna get arrested! They're gonna take you away from me again!"  
"Get in the car, Mick," Leonard tells the other boy. 'Mick' does as told. Joe doesn't even have time to bark out a protest.  
"This has gone as far as it will go," Joe warns them, taking a step to the side to be more in front of the vehicle. "Drop the bag and put your hands in the air, Leonard."  
"It's Snart to you, detective," Leonard orders calmly. Instead of dropping the bag on the ground, he drops it into the station wagon.  
"Why are you doing this?" Joe demands to know, taking another step to be almost directly in front of the vehicle. "I thought we had a plan."  
"We?" Leonard scoffs. "Was ignoring me completely part of 'our' plan?"  
"What?" Joe's brow furrows as he tries to think back to the last time he saw the younger man. "What are you talking about?"  
"You said you wanted to help me," Leonard points an accusing finger at the detective. "Then when I showed up to take you up on your offer you wouldn't even see me. When I went to your house, you weren't there. I assumed someone shot you or you got wise."  
"You came to my house?" Joe blinks, brain on overdrive trying to figure out where he went wrong with the kid.   
Francine. Francine ran off and Joe's word had exploded into pain. He closed off everyone but his daughter and the Allen's.   
And Leonard Snart had paid the price.  
Sirens slowly start the fill the air and Mick starts the engine.  
"Wait!" Joe holsters his weapon, lifts his hands. "We can fix this! You don't have to make a mad dash for freedom!"  
"Too late, detective," Leonard throws the door open. "I'm taking my sister by force."  
The young criminal gets in the car, door slamming as he orders his partner to, "Gun it!"  
Joe jumps out of the way a second before being run over.

The detective rolls, stares at the back lights as the station wagon's wheels squeal in their turn and it drives off at top speed.

Police cruiser lights shine on his face two minutes later and Joe forces himself to snap out of his daze so he doesn't get arrested.

\--- --- ---

Years later, a grown up Barry speed flips through a mug shot book and points to the face of one Leonard Snart.  
Joe takes the book with frown as the hero remarks about their names.  
The detective's stomach clenches at the icy glare in the picture. He thinks back to the blank looks from the younger Leonard and guilt pulls on his heart as he wonders what hardships the kid went through before reaching this point.  
As Barry leaves to go face his newest foe, Joe mourns the loss of, "the one that slipped through the cracks." 

 

\---

**Author's Note:**

> To "badwolfchild":: I know, know, KNOW this isn't as good as your glorious headcanon imagines. (For one thing, there certainly isn't enough Len & Joe interaction.) I was just inspired by your comment and wanted to write something for you in thanks for all of your support in "The Unexpected Series".
> 
> *Disclaimer: I own NOTHING. I do NOT own "The Flash" NOR do I own its Characters...


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